Difference Between Ukrainian and Russian

To outsiders, a Ukraine person will look almost the same as a person from Russia. As Ukraine was a former part of the former USSR bloc (Socialist Republic of Soviet Union), this is expected, but to Russians and Ukrainians the differences will be as clear as the difference between Chinese and Thai food. Even though people from both independent countries share similar ethnicity, race and history, all countries have their unique traditions and cultures; so do these two. The first difference between the two countries is their national flag, and all the related emblems and anthems, as well as many other different things. Russia’s flag is a tricolor of white, blue and red, while Ukraine’s flag has yellow and blue colors.

Russia is the larger subset country of which Ukraine was once a part. There still exists a feeling among many people for the two countries to re-unite into the former glory of Mother Russia. They exist together in the same way as CIS today, or the Commonwealth of Independent States. Ultra-nationalistic militants, on one hand, want to re-unite Mother Russia to its former glory, while ultra-radical separatists want to break it further because of the torture they allegedly suffered during the post-war cold-war-era dictatorship period under USSR. Russia comparatively faces very few terrorist attacks compared to Ukraine. Ukraine is near to the western countries of central Europe, and if one wasn’t told that it was a part of the former USSR, one would think that it was an independent European country, like Greece and Italy, which are located in its vicinity.

The languages of both countries are very similar, and if you use any Russian language translation software, it will work for Ukrainian and vice versa. An easy way to differentiate the scripts would be to look for lots of instances of a letter that looks like an English ‘I’, with two dots over it (Ñ—) ‘“ that would be Ukrainian; if not, then it would be Russian. They are similar because both are Slavic languages, but they are both considered two different languages, and not two different dialects of the same language. One other major difference, is that in Ukrainian the ‘g’ sounds like an ‘h’. Both languages have descended from a common ancestor ‘“ ‘Proto-Eastern Slavic’, and they branched out from it around 1500 years ago.

Ukrainian has a lot of Polish influence, since it was a dominion of Poland for a long time. Ironically, the very first capital of Russia was Kiev, and was ruled by the Grand Prince of Kiev. Ukrainians refer to Vodka as ‘Gorilka’. Tray is pronounced as ‘pidnos’ in Ukrainian and ‘podnos’ in Russian. Just like in English, the way British English is different from American English (stronger intonation and force on the words), the Slavic languages are similar – Ukrainian is more like the British English.

78 Comments

Kiev was the capital of the Rus Empire not the country hundreds of years later to be known as Russia. The Rus Empire split into many states. Duchy of Novgrod would eventually grow to become the country of Russia. Poland and Lithuania were the 2 other new kingoms to split away, what was left of the Rus Empire became the Kingdom of Galicia with The Rus Emperor becoming king. Poland/Lithuania eventually defeated and anexed the kingdom of Galicia and thus began over 500 years of foriegn occupation. During the 1800’s the people of Galicia started to become called Ukrainians where formerly they were know as Ruthenian

Not at all. It’s not just our culture, but our physical characteristic. Americans wouldn’t understand this, because there are few public history books about Ukrainians, and most of it is all wrong anyways. Ask a Real Ukrainian… and they will tell you how Ukraine was the larger population, not Russia.
Also, a pure blood Ukrainian should have an underlining olive complexion, because they were originally gypsy’s over hundreds of years ago, who were a mix of Italians and Russians. So their white, and green in skin tone. Another thing…many people in Ukraine call themselves Ukrainians because their families have lived there for a long time…but their probably not, because my grandfather “who is a pure blood”, told me most of them fled; like he did, when the Tsar took over. And because he still keeps in contact with friends from Ukraine, and they say so also.

Ukrainians did not come from gypsies or Italians at all! Romans and Greeks left records of their dealings with the Slavs of the Ukraine, where the Slavic race originated according to Greek and Roman Scholars and modern day genetics has confirmed what the Greeks and Romans have written. The Balkans speak slavic because of multiple invasions from modern day Ukraine. The yellow skin you speak of comes from the Greeks who colonized all shores around the Black Sea and were absorbed by the slavs over time, you can call me a liar but then why are there greek ruins in the Ukraine if I am? gypsie’s lmao

Mike: Southern slavs in the Balkans (which is pretty much everyone, expect albanians and greeks) originate from the Carpathian mountains and emigrated southwards. There was never a ‘ukrainian invasion’ of any kind, Bozhe moy/Hospode…

I don’t think anyone in the world including Russia or Ukraine 11o% pure. These people have mix with other races, and these two people have mixed with themselves that they are the same people. Both the vikings invaded these two countries, so not all are say “Ukrainian” I wouldn’t be surprise if there were many that had Germanic blood in them.

No, you cannot tell these two a part. All Slavic people are related wheater they like to hear it or not, they all come from the same place, just travel to different parts of the world. All Asian people are related, because we all came from the same place at one time.

A lot of Ukrainian speak Russian and versa versa. A lot Ukrainians I meet have told me. “Russians, Ukrainians same people.”

Not exactly. Ethnically, Russians and Ukrainians are identical in their genetic makeup and therefore identically looking. However, what’s now Ukraine, was never a country of its own until the collapse of Soviet Union but rather an intersection of empires, Russian Empire in the East, Rech Pospolitaya in the West and Ottoman Empire in the South. Throughout the history, the conflicts between the domains continuously reshaped the actual borders with the endless grassy fields of what’s now central Ukraine being somewhat of a safe harbor for the fugitives of the regimes of all 3 gathered into “getmanstvo”. The olive complection of central ukrainians is not coming from gypsies but from large population of Greeks, some of which ran the rule of Ottoman Empire and some were granted lands by Russian Queen Ekaterina, specifically around Crimea. If you travel through modern Ukraine, you would notice that Eastern Ukrainians are essentially Russians speaking somewhat softer language, with significantly larger proportion of darker hair/skin population in the center and Western Ukraine population bearing more of a Polish/Baltic appearance. Of course, everything is intermixed, so we are talking about proportional impressions and not the entirety.

I found Russians to be slightly thinner and shorter than Ukrainians hence why Ukrainians were used as Grenadiers by the Austrians and Royal Guards by the Czar’s. The difference is only slight as Russians and Ukrainians have heavily inter married over the years

If you compare ukrainians and russians it’s the same as british and french. Are they the same? – No, and no. I know a lot of russians and ukrainians and I have lived in both countries. Ukraine has deep history, traditions and culture. However, Russia as a name of the country appeared in 1721!!! It used to be Moscovia. Could anyone show me any map dated earlier 1721 year with such a country as Russia?
One more an interesting fact , – ukrainian language 70% is similar to polish and only 28% to russian.
Yes, that’s true that people in the eastern ukraine rather speak russian than ukrainian but, it completely doesn’t mean that ukrainians and russians are the same.Thay are really different mentally and spiritually. If we can consider them in this way it seems we can allege that the UK and the USA are the same country as well. Or italians and greeks are the same too. (it used to be the Rome empire).
Everyone should be extremely careful speaking about any features of any nations until you are scientist-historian or a citizen of those countries.

Unfortunately we are really very similar to russian, that’s coz some of ukrainians [bad, very bad)))] speak russian, mostly in the eastern Ukraine, maybe because of a great influence of the long being ‘UNDER’ ussr. And now older people, who rose and lived in ussr teach their children to speak ONLY russian. THAT’S A GREAT PROBLEM, THAT BREAKS OUR FREEDOM AND INDEPENDANCE FROM THE INSIDE. I’m from Lutsk (Volyn’ region, western Ukraine). I speak ukrainian but i also know russian very well (because we still have the SHADOW of ussr-alot of tv program’s, news papers are in russian). Our Town (920 years old) is older even than Moskow, but they (russians) still say they are our “elder brother”. We still have ukrainian language maybe because of the fact, that before the II WW western ukraine(my grandparents) was under Poland, and their goverment was much more loyal(allowed to save language and culture (not all the time))

No, Western Ukraine does have a history of independence: It obtained it towards the end of WW1, breaking away from the crumbling Austrian-Hungarian Empire before being absorbed into the Ukraine People’s Republic, which served as the basis for modern Ukraine’s territory. There was also the Hutsul Republic in West Ukraine, which fought and beat Hungary as they attempted to re-establish their fallen empire. Well before that, West Ukraine was also part of the Cossack Hetamanate, which comprised most of Ukraine’s modern Central and Upper Central territory.

Besides, you forget: Western Ukraine had its independence before Muscovia or Poland even existed. It was called Kyivian Ruthenia. On top of that, the Zaporozhian Cossacks descended from West Ukraine. Where they initially formed was just happenstance, and not inhabited by them in the past.

I agree that this article is totally wrong on many points. Also, if you are Ukrainian it is possible to say that person is Russian, just by looking at them(in may cases):) Many times manners and how the person interacts with others is different… and language. Russians have no clue if one speaks to them in Ukrainian. I have some Russian speaking friends and they DO NOT understand books and music in Ukrainian at all. I hope Ukrainians will win this time and build the strong and prosperous country, as they diverse.

you logic is flawed becos
1. british if you mean english are anglo saxon people originated from germany and they do share some characteristics of germanic people like germans/dutch/austrians etc. but americans are not a race. some come from england and many come from italy, ireland netherlands, germany, other europeans etc so they had no distinct physical appearances.
2. it is certainly easy to tell the difference from italian and german, greeks and fnish, french and german, russians from germans. at least i can tell easily
3. however you cannot tell the difference between a pure blood russian and ukrainian/belurusian (not those with tartar blood). because historically all these people originated from the same east slavic tribe so they are the same people. genetically they are identical and only difference is cultural/languages/traditions. that said, you can even tell the difference among chinese and korean, or even southern chinese from northern chinese. but a pure blood ukrainian and russians are even closer genetically from a northern chinese and southern chinese. in other words, they are equivalent to germans and austrians (no genetic difference).
4. so i don’t know why since they are supposed to be brothers, that they fight against each other. to us ukrainians and russians are entirely the same

Arent technically both the same ethnic. Yes, they may have slighty different languages and flags, but its like Native Americans. They have different tribes, some different languages, flags and beliefs, but they are all clearly native. Im just a little confused because ive heard from both sides of this issue that yes they are they same because they have the same backround and language, and then ive heard that no, they are not the at all the same because of cultures or such.

It’s a thing you can’t really describe they are different. If you live there for a long time or are Ukrainian. You will see the difference it’s something to do with the face type I can’t explain what it is that pushs us apart but that’s the thing I personally think that maybe 4000 years ago (maybe less) that they descended form different nations (maybe Ukrainians from up north, Russians from further east). The problem with this is that they have mixed up quite a lot because of USSR. But still if you find a pure Ukrainian (or something close) you will see same with Russians.

Russians have %50 of the same DNA as Ukrainians and may be the first tribe to leave ancient Ukraine but they mixed heavily with the ancient Finns and to some degree mongols. So as a race they’ve grown apart steadily over the centuries.

The torture that Ukrainians suffered under communist rule was certainly not alleged, but did occur. There was a manmade famine in 1932-33 which killed millions of Ukrainians. Stalin’s goal was to ethnically cleanse all Ukrainians because he thought they were a threat to the Soviet Union’s prosperity. This is one of many things the Russians inflicted upon the Ukrainian people and is perhaps one of the well kept secrets today. You hear about genocides all the time, but rarely the one that happened in Ukraine nearly 80 years ago.

Also, the larger territory of Russia over Ukraine has NOTHING to do with the languages they speak as it is largely irrelevant. Besides the strong majority of it, particularly Siberia is mostly worthless barren wasteland.

There may be a Polish influence in Ukrainian culture, but certainly not the language. Ukrainian is older than Polish (or Russian for that matter) and next to Slovak is the closest language to old Slavonic, the root language from which most eastern European languages were derived from. While there are certainly similarities between Ukrainian and Russian, there are more differences. They both use the cyrillic alphabet, but phonetics are very different.

In terms of appearance, your average Ukrainian is certainly not olive in tone as they are from northeastern Europe. Instead they have fair skin and generally light eyes and hair. Ukrainians were most definitely not gypsies. The gypsies are a group of nomadic people who traveled across Europe and mated with everyone, which is why they are dark in complexion. While they may have Ukrainian blood in them, they also have the blood of many other ethnicities in them and are certainly more than just a mix of “Italian and Russian”
People living anywhere migrate anytime there is a drastic change of rule, not just in Ukraine. Okay, so the tsar took over, this doesn’t mean that every single Ukrainian living there moved and never came back. When the English took over Ireland, a great number of Irish still stayed and continued to live there until this day.

Finally, Kiev was the capital of the Kievan Rus (modern day Ukraine and Belarus) or the Eastern Empire at the time. Moscow was nowhere near being established, and not even a village at the time. Rus is an old Norse word used by the Varangians, or Vikings that sailed eastward, hence the Kievan Rus means the lands around Kiev. Russia took this root word and came up with the name of their country today without any credit or gratification to the Scandinavians.

The name Rus comes from the coast of Sweden where the royal family of the Rus empire originated from. The Greeks say that the name Slav comes from the river that ran through their homeland, in modern english that river is called Dnieper river

Russians are known for claiming other people’s history for centuries now, after the fall of Constantinople the Czar’s claimed to be the last remaining part of the Roman empire and last Roman Emperor, The 2 headed eagle on the Russian flag comes from the eastern Roman empire flag (you can easily find on the internet). The nation of Russia and all the land in it’s borders have never been any part of the Roman empire. The Greeks had to teach them how to read and write and gave them their alphabet, the Greeks even gave them their orthodox christian religion.

What a horrible way you use to refer to the Gypsies or Roma, as they prefer, since they did not come from Egypt but from India.

First of all, their darker skin comes because of their Indian ancestry. You seem to think you are so much wiser than the poster, yet you actually show more ignorance and disrespect.

“Mated with everyone”. The mate word is used for animals, you bigot. Who do you think you are to insult another ethnic group? You are just a person, like them! And for your information, Unless YOU “mate” with your own family, everyone is mixed and “mates” with everyone else. Good luck with your DNA and with the mental health of your line, if that is what you prefer. Racist! There are no “pure” races AND thank god for that!!!

For one, Ukraine was never an independent country before the collapse of the Soviet Union. It’s first ever administrative division as such was as the Ukrainian republic of former USSR. The etymology of the word “Ukraina” comes down to Russian word “okraina” meaning the outskirts (of the empire). Further, the majority of what’s today Ukraine was indeed a part of Russian Empire. Bogdan Khmelnitskij was never a “Ukrainian leader” for there was no such thing as Ukraine, but a getman of Zaporozhskaja Sech – essentially a warlord for hire. In turn, Zaporozhskaja Sech was a subject of a Russo-Lithuanian dukedom, named as such circa 20-30’s of 16th century. Further, claim Kievan Rus as a source of “Ukraine” is an idiocy. For all intents an purposes, Kievan Rus was a loosely coherent conglomerate of dukedoms thoroughly devastated by the initial invasion of n if Chingiz Khan, regrouped under the rule of Duke of Novgorod, eventually defeated the Mongols and grown into what’s now known as Russia with capital in Novgorod with Moscow becoming a capital significantly later.
As far as the historical record, Russian account of it perfectly matches that of Poland and other Eastern European nations, so please, do not maskarade your ignorance with the pompous claims of “setting the record straight”.
Oh, and by the way, Russia has never been an enemy of Ukraine. Ever since it’s conception as an independent state in 1991, the greatest enemy of Ukraine were the Ukrainian oligarchs and overwhelming internal corruption. This is perhaps the only country in the world that never had a president that wasn’t a crook.

“Ukraine was never an independent country before the collapse of the Soviet Union”.

INCORRECT. Kyivan Rus was historic Ukraine. Russia – and Russians as such, didn’t exist at the time. It was the amalgamation of Ugro-Finnic-Asian indigenous peoples with northeastern Slavic tribes of the Radmichians, Viatichians, Slovenians, and a few others, that created the seperate and distinct Russian ethnos in the Volga River Basin, chiefly the areas of Suzdal-Rostov-Vladimir [which some historians sarcastically refer to as Suzdal Land]. THAT was the origin of the future Russian state and Russian people.

During nearly the entire period of Kyivan Rus, those Asian [i.e., future Russia] areas regarded the Ukrainian Kyiv-Rus State as foreign and seperate. That abiding, underlying hostility was held in check by the revolving parade of Rurikid princes ruling over those Asian Suzdal Land areas. The Rurikids tolerated no dissent, until it finally erupted into full, frontal hostility in the person of Andrei Bogolyubsky, who became Suzdal Land Prince in 1157.

His hatred for Kyiv, Kyivan-Rus, and everything Ukrainian was undisguised and out of control. In 1169, his troops attacked, destroyed, and burned Kyiv. Two years later, he did the same thing again, looting every valuable thing his soldiers could carry back to Suzdal.

Bogolyubsky’s attacks occurred late in the history of the Kyivan-Rus Ukrainian Empire and signal the first attack of future Russia on Ukraine. Rus-Ukraine was already at that point in the phase of its decline; the days of Volodimyr The Great [Ukraine’s greatest monarch] having long since passed.

What that means is that the first appearance of Russians – or actually PROTO-Russians – in the pages of history as a significant ethnicity and people – rather than being some collection of semi-savage, bear-hunting, Asiatic groups carving out a marginal existence in the frozen, Asian north, distant and far from the cultural and political center of Kyiv, doesn’t occur until the latter half of the 12th century.

So, stating that “The etymology of the word “Ukraina” comes down to Russian word “okraina” meaning the outskirts (of the empire)”, is absolutely incorrect. There was no Russian language – altho Suzdal Land may have had it’s own, corrupt dialect, separate from the predominant Kyivan language.

Nor was there any such thing as a “Russian Empire”. In fact, that particular development – unfortunate for the human race and the whole planet – didn’t occur until the ascension of Peter The Great, many many many many centuries later.

The rise of the Kozak state by the time of Hetman Khmelnitsky is regarded as a separate and independent Ukrainian state – otherwise, the Russian Tsar would have had no need of the complex diplomacy and negotiations, nor of entering into a binding treaty, such as that of the 1654 Treaty of Pereyaslav 1654.

Ukraine declared a free and independent state in the close of World War I in 1918. It lasted a short time, before the always imperialistic Bolshevik Army marched in and crushed the fledgling country.

Your ridiculously incorrect statements continue:

“…Zaporozhskaja Sech was a subject of a Russo-Lithuanian dukedom..”.

No such thing as a “Russo-Lithuanian dukedom” existed. At the time, Poland was the predominant power in the region.

“Kievan Rus as a source of “Ukraine” is an idiocy”.

Lets just examine the facts. The center of Kyivan-Rus was — where was it? Oh, yeah – Kyiv. That’d be Ukriane. Most of the lands of Kyivan Rus where in what’s now Ukraine. Not in Italy, or South Africa, or Asian future Russia. European Ukraine. Suzdal Land – future Russia – was merely a peripheral colony.

“…regrouped under the rule of Duke of Novgorod…” What??? What’re you babbling about?. You need to put down the crack pipe.

“As far as the historical record, Russian account of it perfectly matches that of Poland and other Eastern European nations..”.

Actually, it doesn’t. Polish historians have accurately distinguished the distinct difference between Ukraine and the later appearance of the Moskaly, who later to came to be known as “Russians”, although they’ll always actually be Moskaly. In fact, one prominent Polish historian has written that Russia stole everything from Ukraine, including its name, and then “raised its criminal hand” against Ukraina.

“…Russia has never been an enemy of Ukraine…”.

Statements such as that reveal that we’re dealing here with some drooling, drunken bar thug, pounding his fist on the table before passing out. From the betrayal of the Pereyaslav Treaty in 1654, to the destruction of the Kozak Sich, to the inconceivable barbarism of the 1932 Ukrainian Holocaust that killed 8 to 12 million Ukrainians – PEOPLE – HUMAN BEINGS – to Putin’s hostility at this very moment – Russian aggression toward Ukraine has been as constant as the rising sun.

I’m Ukrainian and most Ukranians I know and myself all can just look at someone from eastern europe and tell were the person is from ( e.g Polish, Russian, Kazakhstanian) and so on some are harder like kazakhstan and uzbecistan mixing them up is pretty easy but polish ukranian and russian you can tell them apart straight away.

sorry my grammar and spelling is bad its late and i dont want to correct it.

this is such a bullshit article from a person who has no idea what he or she is talking about. its a shame to read to any decent Ukrainian. almost every word just borders on stereotypes and simple stupidity, i can’t even begin to comment on every lie mentioned here.

The person writing the article is most certainly Russian and he/she may not be trying to mislead anyone just repeating what they were taught in Russian schools. Every nation on the planet modifies their own history books for pride, if you want the truth study 3rd party history books that don’t have a national or cultural bias

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some Ukrainians have mongolian blood because ukraine was taken over by mongolia first, then poland took some parts and then russia took it. That explains why my grandma looks a little like mongols. usually russians have slimmer faces and longer noses.

Are you kidding us? Unlike Muscovy, Ukraine is Mongols-free country since the middle of the 14th century. The current Russian territory was occupied by Golden Horde Mongols from the twelve thirties to beginning of the 16th century. But invaders went nowhere and even afterwards, Russia has annexed “slimmerface’s” territories of the Kazan Khanate, the Astrakhan Khanate, the Crimean Khanate etc. It’s simply ridiculous. Look at the map of the Eurasia!

Really funny: how comes that something lying east (Russia) gets occupied from the east later then something lying west (Ukraine)?
And btw Sam is right – Ukraine has stopped paying tribute (giving money once X month to rare tribute collector) to Mongols one century before Moscowy & Co were freed from occupation (foreign presence). That makes a bit of difference…

You might not read this but whatever. During the Mongol occupation, Mongols mostly interacted with high slav officials since they only needed tribute from them. Mongols and slavs peoples didn’t interact a lot between each other. Mongols only had influence on the administration and military of the Russians but not much else.

I think we are very similar, even to this day, it’s like Austria and Germany actually, or even closer. Ukrainian culture is very easily absorbed into Russia and unobstructed accepts it, and vice versa. Many Ukrainian words went to the Russian language in less than 20 years, and vice versa. Our cultures are different in fact. Present days Ukrainian culture it’s not Traditional Ukrainian culture, Traditional Ukrainian culture (without Polish, Carpathian influence…) – it’s Eastern, Central (including Kiev) and South Russian. it’s true Ukrainian culture! Romanian-Carpathian culture its Western Ukraine and this is not Ukraine. it’s hard to explain but you have to believe me.

Why shall anyone at all believe a person telling nonsense? Western Ukrainians are as much Ukrainians as Central, and unlike Easterners they have managed to save their culture, they kept the language alive, they did not forget our songs and our customs, and what’s the most important they love Ukraine and identify themselves with Ukraine.
And FYI modern Ukrainian culture is mostly influenced by central Ukraine as it was 3-5 hundred years ago (take the dialect spoken on TV – it’s a Central Ukrainian one).

Ukranians are gorgeous!
also in general, stop calling folks dark skinned when therye nowhere near dark!
white people come in many shades,nobody is pure white. Goodness
the comments by ignorant folks are idiotic
Some people feel self hate that they have to go around calling people dark. Just because someone isnt pork colored…doesnt make them dark

My heritage is in part Ukrainian. I love these discussions because I did not grow up anywhere near the Ukraine and it is good to hear what people say about each other, just to know the general mire of my cultural origins, and the ways in which people distract themselves in order to feel better about the day ahead.

What I find useful about all of these comments, that they reveal that there is possibility to an authentic trace of the cultures, peoples, clans, that have swept through the beautiful territory of the Ukraine. As different ideas influenced different groups of people to do things like take over a territory in which they had no Indigenous origins.

As a child of a colonizing family that was (fortunately) coaxed out the Ukraine, I find that somewhere down the line, judgements need to be dropped so that the simple truths can emerge. I use the word fortunately as those of my paternal family who remained in the Ukraine are all gone due to Stalin’s genocide of Ukrainian “bourgeois,” which I understand were essentially the clan members of the Ukraine who had ancestral claim to the farmlands.

Every territory in the world has been colonized or touched by colonization and I believe that this idea of conquerer and conquered it comes from the ideas of separation and duality. However, I believe the good news is that most people are dropping the dualistic way of being, moving more into a ‘paradox’ paradigm, and are embracing a more loving way of being that is necessary under the difficult circumstances our environmental and resource issues are imposing.

So, thank you all for providing me clues as to why some of my family is fair and pink skin toned, and why some of my family is dark dark dark and olive skin toned, and all of us in between. This discussion helps me feel connected to soo many different peoples, with incredible lineages, and their incredible stories.

This all helps me connect to the strength of my variety of ancestors, all of whom helped shape me today.

Thank you!

One love!

P.S.

Homosexuals were created by God too – ridiculous Russians lay off the hate already!

First of all, Ukraine is not a part of CIS. Ukraine is a founder-state of the CIS, however not a member-state because the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) has signed the decision on the adoption of the CIS Charter and therefore cannot be treated as a member-state of the CIS. You can read more here http://www.info-news.com.ua/ukraine-and-the-cis

About historical inaccuracy of this article: Kyivan Rus and Russia is not so similar as you believe. There was Kyivan Rus with its center in Kyiv, then it was Grand Duchy of Ruthenia, and later Ukraine. Here are two articles which may shed light on the history: 1) http://www.info-news.com.ua/1025th-anniversary-of-baptism-of-kyivan-rus 2)http://www.info-news.com.ua/mangnus-ducatus-rutheniae-successor-of-kyivan-rus

Incorrrect. Ukraine is ONE OF THE founding states of CIS, not THE founding state. Ukraine is still associate state of CIS, although not a member since 1993. It however was.
Further, Kievan Rus was never a state but a conglomerate of dukedoms. The remainind dukedoms united under the rule of Novgorod Dukedom, kicked out the mongols and that’s what grew into modern Russia. First capital of Russian Tsardom was in Novgorod. Moscow became the capital significantly later.

First of all, Ukraine is not a part of CIS. Ukraine is a founder-state of the CIS, however not a member-state because the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) has NEVER signed the decision on the adoption of the CIS Charter and therefore cannot be treated as a member-state of the CIS. You can read more here http://www.info-news.com.ua/ukraine-and-the-cis

I am half ukranian ,my mother and grandparents migrated to sascatchewan .and settled in B.C Can, i never was told any storeys about theyre history and i now can see why.Even people from theyre
own original decendants hate .!! I dont agree with any of the storeys told here ,like some others have stated here ,history comes from storeys told to them by what that person seen through theyre eyes and not a complete picture of all countrys interpretation of the resulting history. All in All millions of people always have to DIE from the real reason. …… HATE !!!!!! some things will never change no matter what color your skin is. its not the outside that should be judged its the person inside that matters, and again some things will never change ,as beauty is only in the eyes of the beholder, I hate this whole frkn world .because its getting worse instead of better, I live secluded from the outside world for that reason. I am hated for how i look no matter how nice i am to others .so therefore i fall into the same world of Hate . And a thought for anyone who wants to comment on my message ,our ancestors have good reason to break away from a controlling communist country, So we can still be controlled and monitored by paranoid psychotic political leaders watching us through our supposedly private computers.looking for possible terrorist threats. Hmmmm Maybe they can use that as a reason to Kill millions of more innocent people.

Tired of the hateful people who call others racists if they are simu proud of their culture AND WANT TO PRESERVE THER HERITAGE AND NATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS including appearance. We are not racists but such hate filled people are Genocidal and Against Diversity in its true sense. The want Homogenization.

It’s very true, but moscow’s trolls will never admit this simple fact.
Ukraine as a bone in the throat of russian empire (evil empire), without Ukraine, Russia is just trash of Gold Horde. Moscovia has stolen everything from Kyiv Rus,
name, culture, history etc. Itself Moscovia was nothing more as an area of tribes of savages.

An interesting view, but in my opinion you tried to destroy some common Ukrainian-Russian stereotypes by creating even more stereotypes and confusion. So, the original intent was probably good, but unfortunately not achieved. For example, comparing British-English and American-English to Ukrainian and Russian is completely incorrect, because as you told Ukrainian and Russian were formed from a common language and separated about 1500 years ago while American and British English only about 500 years ago (and due to globalization doesn’t have many differences). Proof: Russians don’t understand Ukrainian language at all and Ukrainians only understand Russian because they hear and learn it form childhood. In some western parts of Ukraine young people also may not know Russian because nobody speaks Russian anymore. If you want an analogy, for me, more accurate will be German and Dutch.

I would say that Ukrainian and Russian are like Spanish and Portuguese, or as you said like German and Dutch. However I disagree that Russian and Ukraine were formed from one language (Old Church Slavonic). The Old Church Slavonic language in Eastern-Southern Europe was like Latin in Western Europe – the language of Church, State and the books. Yes, Russian was formed from Old Church Slavonic, which in its turn was formed from Old Bulgarian. That’s why Russian and Bulgarian languages have so much in common! While there is a dictionary which translated from Old Church Slavonic language into the language spoken in present-day Ukraine. This dictionary was written by Lavrentiy Kukil (Zyzaniy) in XVI century, and we can clearly see that the language spoken by common people is almost like modern day Ukrainian.

No doubt this article is Russian propaganda with the intent of trying unite the two completely different nations. Comparing the two languages is somewhat similar to comparing apples and oranges. The Reason why the eastern part of Ukraine speaks Russian is that after the 1933 man made famine, Stalin sent Russian people to live in the eastern part of the country where majority of the real Ukrainians were starved to death. Why did this famine take place? There is only one reason and that is the Russians fear the Ukrainians, just take a look at what’s going in there right now. There were numerous times in history when Russia attempted to wipe out the Ukrainian nation and the result was the same each time. Failure…

Sooooo…still don’t quite know the differences between Russians & Ukranians. Idealogically, culturally, socially?? Just hoping to understand the basis of the current (politically motivated) militaristic aggression between Russia & the Ukraine and looked to this article and the resulting comments as educative. So far I have learned that Russians & Ukranians do not seem to hold a great deal of respect for one another.
Why?

Let’s get several things straight right from the outset: Ukraine isn’t Russia, and Russia isn’t Ukraine. They never were, and never will be. Unfortunately for the rest of the world, the history of both are probably the most twisted and complex of any nations or people on earth. And, unfortunately for Ukraine, Russia has done a remarkable job of completely falsifying their own history and claiming that of Ukraine’s for itself.

Russia is, has been, and may always be, Ukraine’s Enemy Numero Uno. The most deadly and ruthless foe imaginable. For even just a sliver of proof, look at how they’ve got you, and the rest of the world thinking that Ukraine and Russia are the same thing, and that Kievan Rus was actually Russia [it never, ever was].

I’ll try to untangle the mess for all of you here.

The large, medieval kingdom known as Kievan Rus was the original Ukrainian state. It reached its height around the 10th and 11th centuries. At that time, there was no Russia, no Muscovy, no nothing of the sort. As many civilizations are prone to do, the kingdom [already sprawling] began to spread further over time. Moving westwards ran them straight against other nations, but when the princes of Rus looked to the east, they found vast lands with nothing but primitive Balto-Asiatic tribes who were easy to rule. Thus, some of the princes of the ruling house of Rurik set up shop in what came to be known as Rostov-Suzdal – or Suzdal Land – up in the Asian northwest [present day Russia], or northeast of Kiev.

Soon, a particularly hostile prince, known as Andrew Boholubsky, decided to create a rival Kingdom to Kiev in a Suzdal Land town called Vladimir. A lot of complicated stuff went on, but bottom line, he attacked Kiev – the heart of Rus in 1169 and burned it to the ground [but not before stealing all of the priceless artifacts and treasures his soldiers could carry]. From that moment forward, the Asiatic Suzdal Lands and their princes stood in opposition and hostility toward Rus-Ukraine.

At this point there’s still no Russia. Moscow was only briefly mentioned in the historical record as a stockade on a distant frontier in 1147. But, the primitive formation of the future Russian ethnicity was in progress. It consisted of the semi-savage Baltic and Asian tribes over whom the break-away Rurikid princess now ruled. Often, the princes resorted to brutal violence against their own Asian subjects as they sought to forcibly convert them to Christianity and to adopt the Rus customs they’d brought with them.

Then, in 1240, the greatest catastrophe of the epoch befell Rus-Ukraine. The Mongol Tartars, the most deadly and violent fighting force of the time, and perhaps in all of history, attacked Kievan-Rus and utterly destroyed it. Devastated it. And, they would keep raiding and destroying over the ensuing years, decades, and, amazingly, even centuries.

Under unimaginable and ongoing tragedy, Ukraine bravely attempted to regroup. King Danilo who became the leader of Ukraine, ruled from the western Ukrainian kingdom of Halych, and united what was left of Kiev and the rest of Rus-Ukraine under his suzerainty by 1250. But, the Mongols kept up the crazed brutality, raiding towns and villages, killing everything – men, women, children, chickens – whatever. If it moved – it was slain. Any human left alive was taken into slavery.

In the meantime, Suzdal Land was doing better, especially in that former bear-hunting swamp known as Moscow [thus, the future Russian bear]. Their king was the most obsequious of all of the proto-Russian princes of Suzdal Land. He kowtowed to the Tartar Khan [the supremely leader of the Mongols] like crazy, marrying the Khan’s daughter, thus becoming family and linking the future Russian state to the Mongol Horde, while breaking with any lingering Rus influence.

All of the Kievan-Rus lands and Suzdal lands had become an “Ulus” – provinces under the Mongol over-lordship, but Ivan Kalita the First of Moscow was the most loyal and subservient vassal the Mongols had ever seen. Kalita even joined his army with that of the Mongols to attack and destroy the other proto-Russian principalities in Suzdal Land. Thus, the Russian propensity of destroying their own kind, and any other people living anywhere nearby [i.e., Ukrainians] was established in the very beginning.

By the time Kalita died in 1340, Moscow was unquestionably the strongest and most secure Ulus in the Mongol fiefdom. Its population had increased with an influx of fleeing Rus-Ukrainians, who mixed with the indigenous Asians and conquering Mongols to form the future Russian people. Thus, it’s important to note the ethnic difference between Ukrainians and Russians, and Russians and all other Slavs.

At this point, there’s still no such thing as “Russia”, only Muscovy. The people knew themselves as Muscovites, who were separate and distinct from Ukrainians. The name Russia was actually only adopted on 10/22/1721, and the Muscovite people forced by royal edict to call themselves “Russian”.

Meanwhile, Rus-Ukraine, having come perilously close to being wiped out of existence by the Mongols, continued to suffer ongoing Mongol attacks. Eventually, it fell under the rule of the powerful Lithuanian kingdom, which itself fell under Polish rule in succeeding centuries. Thus, Rus-Ukraine and Muscovy-Russia sprang from different origins, and followed diverse historic paths. Unfortunately, in 1654 the Ukrainian leader Khmelnytsky signed a pact with Muscovy which let the vampire in the door, and allowed for Russian plunder and occupation of Ukraine ever since.

Shame. Shame to even say such thing as “allowed for Russian plunder and occupation of Ukraine ever since”… such statement is politically motivated. Your short historical essay, as any historical information, lacking the other side of story. 360 years of occupation, huh?

You wrote a really silly statements. Just remember one thing , when you need some professional advice or correct answer you must apply for specialist in demanded field. Such as you go to a dentist when you have toothache. In this case , not you, but I have Ukrainian background , I spend a lot of time in both countries in different regions. I’ve seen on my own who are Russians and Ukrainians, they are completely different mentally , spiritually and in some stage physically (general appearance). Moreover , if you wanna know history , you need to learn history. To be independent, I won’t advise you Ukrainian or even European scientists. Instead of them, I can suggest you ridding or listening professor Andrey Zubow. Who is one of the gratest specialist in history living in Moscow and teaching students in one of the most respected university in Russia (MSUIR). Just here some link: http://youtu.be/TqAyRFBzUkc
Enjoy listening to the truth!!!

Shame? What shame? A firm discussion of historical fact is “shame”???. Furthermore, there is no “other side” of the story, other than the fictionalized version promulgated by Russia and Russians; and that version itself only appeared was only developed over years from about the time of Peter the Great. As a Nineteenth Century Polish encyclopedia put it, ‘they took everything from Ukraine. They stole their name, appropriated their history, ravaged the land and its people…”.

Shame? What shame? A recitation of historic facts is now shame???!! And, what “other side” of the story? Oh – you mean the Russian side, right? That’s your “other side”? That side has the upper hand, Zippy. It’s the Ukrainian side – which happens to be the factual truth – that needs telling. For perspective, here’s what a 19th century Polish Encyclopedia entry said on the topic: “The Russians stole everything from Ukraine. The stole their name, appropriated their history, and stripped the land…”. THAT – that’s shame.

Ukrainian and Russian is like British and American English? This entire article is wrong especially this piece of “information”. The only words I can think of that sound exactly the same are Da and Biblia. Here are some sentences and tell me how in the heck are they almost identical. Podaj meni chervoni shkarpetky (ukrainian for give me the red socks) and Padaj mnje krasnyje naski (russian). Another example, vin pishov v maghazyn shchob kupyty trojandy (ukrainian for he went to the store to buy roses) and On pashol u magazin shtob pakupatj rosy (russian). Last example just because, vin jiji potsiluvav pid veselkoju na vesili (ukrainian for he kissed her under the rainbow at the wedding) and On jejo potseloval pad radugoj na svadjbe (russian).

Ukrainians gave birth to the Russians. Russians were originally Ukrainians known as Ruthenians, that inter-bred with the Tatars, Mongols, etc., after Kievan Rus split and it was those Ukrainians that founded Muscovy (Moscow today).

Ukrainians gave birth to the Russians. Russians were originally Ukrainians known as Ruthenians, that inter-bred with the Tatars, Mongols, etc., after Kievan Rus split and it was those Ukrainians that founded Muscovy (Moscow today).

Ha – actually true. Russians are an amalgam of tribal Asian / Finno-Ugric and later Mongol peoples. Into that mix there entered certain Eastern Slavic tribes, which were related but not identical to those who settled the Dnipro basin and created Kyivan Rus, or Ukraine.

Those Eastern Slavic tribal group who formed proto-Russia were composed of the Viatichians, Radmichians, Slovenians, and a part of the eastern segment of the Krivichians.

As Dr. Nicholas Chirovsky has stated, those far North-Eastern Slavic tribes “merging with the Ugro-Finnic Chud, Ves, Meria, Muron, and others [i.e., other marauders of the Asian steppe] amalgamted into the future Russian nationality…”.

Keep in mind that at the time and for many, many centuries, there would be no Russia, no Muscovy, nor even a proto-Russian Vladimir-Suzdal [the cradle of all so-called Great Russians].

For reference, the some of the tribes who formed the Ukrainian nation were the Polyanians, Siverians, Khorvatians, Derevlianians, and more. Furthermore, Ukraine grew on the foundations of the immediately previous Ante culture, which wasn’t present in the future Russian areas, and Ukraine absorbed Iranian as well and Byzantine culture.

As for Ukrainians fleeing Rus for Muscovy and Suzdal after the Tartar invasions, most historians have now demonstrated that those numbers were miniscule at best [see Subtelny and Plokhy, et al].

Thus, it’s not correct to conclude that “Ukrainians known as Ruthenians, that inter-bred with the Tatars, Mongols, etc., after Kievan Rus split and it was those Ukrainians that founded Muscovy…”.

The reality is a bit more nuanced then that; more complex, and even less flattering to Russians who have sought to claim a connection to Kyivan Rus where little or none exists.

Neward Thelman,
Thank you . I’m a Ukrainian who didn’t know his history. Father from Donetsk . I’m astounded that while fiercely Ukrainian, we mostly speak Russian. What a shame, but not on us – on Russia.

It’s the great tragedy of Ukraina that the language of the enemy – mova voroha – is so widespread and deeply entrenched in the country.

It’s a consequence of the occupation of Ukraine by Russia since 1654. Over that period of time, the insertion and impregnation of Russian into Ukrainian lands and Ukrainian society occurred on many different levels and in many different ways.

Right off the bat, Russian began to suffuse and ripple through Ukrainian society as Ukraine’s elite were absorbed into service in the rapidly expanding Russian Empire. In less than a single generation, many of those elites who’s role would otherwise have been naturally turned to leading Ukrainian society forward, had become thoroughly Russified, even modifying their names to Russian forms. Pederenko became Pederenkov. The upper ranks of the Kozak leadership were similarly co-opted, with rewards of land, power, aristocratic titles, and so on.

Russia immediately began funneling massive numbers of ethnic Russians into Ukrainian lands, to the extent that most cities, and whole regions, such as the eastern areas as Donetsk, soon began to contain majority Russians populations.

Simultaneously, a more covert campaign was implemented to make the use of Ukrainian next to impossible in key functional areas such as government, trade, education, commerce, etc.

That policy became overt, when Russia declared the use of Ukrainian illegal. Illegal. There was to be no Ukrainian taught to children. Schooling was to be only in Russian. Ukrainian schools were closed. It was illegal to publish anything in Ukrainian.

The consequences of even thinking in Ukrainian were serious. Arrest was immediate, and if you survived the mortal beating you’d receive at the hands of the authorities, you could look forward to being ripped away from your spouse, your children, your family, your land, your entire life, while you were brutally shipped off to hard labor and eventual death in the frozen wastes of Siberia.

So many Ukrainians were shipped off to Siberia that a Ukrainian settlement developed there, known as the Green Wedge – Zeleny Klyn. They even had a proper flag for a while – the Ukrainian Blue and Yellow with a green triangle wedged on the left hand side.

The 19th century Tsarist brutally and relentlessly suppressed any and all manifestations of Ukrainian identity; and that was after the repression and destruction visited upon Ukraine by that evil bitch of history, Catherine the Great [so-called]. It would culminate in the greatest genocide in human history – the Holodomor. Afterwards, the Russian Communist dictatorship ensured the dominance of Russian in Ukrainian lands.

I don’t blame Ukrainians living in Ukraine today for the use of Russian. But, at the same time, some sort of effort, some sort of movement towards the implementation of Ukrainian and the disappearance of Russian in Ukrainian society must be started if Ukraina is to grow as an independent nation in the world, and not merely sink into becoming little more than a region of greater Russia.

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Written by : Manisha Kumar.
and updated on February 20, 2011

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